


Hyōri Ittai

by Marie9



Series: The Coins [1]
Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Ai is very amused, Aoko thinks it's adorable, Ayumi is in love, Conan-kun likes to hang out with Kaito-niichan though, Doves and Daring, Epic Friendship, Gen, Genta wants to learn ALL the magic, Heiji is also confused, IF ONLY SHE KNEW, Mitsuhiko can't figure out Kaito's hyperspace pockets, Ran isn't sure Kuroba-kun is the best influence, Saguru is confused, Soccer Balls and Stun Watches, The Coins, They're catching bad guys so it's OK though right?, Tricks and Truth
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-23
Updated: 2019-01-02
Packaged: 2019-07-14 21:56:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16049357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marie9/pseuds/Marie9
Summary: Kaitou Kid deciding to call in the favor he feels owed by tantei-kun in light of the events on the Bell Tree Express results in Kuroba Kaito and Kudo Shinichi becoming friends over time and regularly working together against their respective men and women in black and other assorted baddies, the pair realizing that they're two sides of the same coin. Some one-shots, some multi-parters, 100% Beika, Ekoda and the bad guys having no idea what's about to hit them. Founding basis of The Coins.





	1. File 1: A Premonition of Murder, Part 1

Shinichi stirred from sleep and yawned, gentle moonlight filtering through his and Richard's shared bedroom's curtains. He blinked and sat up fully as he realized it was his cellphone, or rather Edogawa Conan's, cellphone vibrating that had woken him up. The first silent vibration in his hand after he quietly picked it up off the dresser confirmed it, 'BLOCKED NUMBER' dancing across the screen merrily. _This is a really weird time to be getting a phonecall. Maybe a wrong number?_ The phone didn't light up with another call after he decided to just let it ring, so Shinichi was just about to put it down to a wrong number dialed at a _very_ odd time and tuck the phone away again before he felt the phone go off again, a text delivery notice appearing.  _What?_ He checked the text preview without unlocking the phone and blinked twice before he fully processed it:

**Good evening, tantei-kun. Or I suppose I should say morning due to the time, hmm?**

_Tantei-kun?_ Shinichi felt his mind kick into high gear and adrenaline surge in his veins, the shrunken meitantei suddenly feeling entirely awake. Well, there was only one person it could possibly be- or rather, one insanely intelligent, slippery magician-thief, who'd apparently decided to help himself to 'Conan's' phone number. More to the point, _why_ was Kaitou Kid sending him at text at- Shinichi finally glanced at the phone's clock- three-thirty in the morning? He was still pondering a response when a second text came through. Sighing softly, he decided to unlock his phone and see what exactly the kaitou wanted. The second text provided no insight:

**I do hope this isn't too early for you. As you've probably guessed, I took the liberty of adding your number to my contacts when you handed me your phone a while ago.**

_Of course._ With an annoyed snort beforehand, Shinichi rapidly tapped out a reply.  **You just so happened to wake me, which is exactly what you meant to do I'm sure.**

 **Well, I assumed I would at this time of morning.**  A bit later, a second line appeared. **Anyway, sorry to wake you up like this but I feel the time's come to collect the favor I'm owed.**

 _Dare I even ask what he thinks I owe him for?_ Shinichi yawned widely, replying in spite of himself as the adrenaline started to wear off, feeling his eyelids start to droop even as his mind was racing.  **Can I ask what you're talking about?**

An emoticon group of a train, a bomb, a gun and a generic blonde-haired woman's face was the initial response, then text:  **Does that help jog your memory at all? I even ever so politely returned your phone to you afterwards.**

 **Hey, I told you we were even after that, remember?** But now at least Shinichi knew exactly who the 'nice old lady' had been that dropped off his cellphone with Ran at the agency a few days after everything had happened. He'd had his suspicions, of course, but that confirmed things.

The reply took a bit, and after Shinichi read it he groaned aloud. **Well, I've decided that I stuck my neck out enough back there that we're NOT even. And I've actually run into something that I'm fairly certain will...require your services, shall we say? Or likely will if what's going on isn't stopped, more accurately.**

Shinichi found his brow quirking upward at Kid's words, the scent of mystery beginning to hang tantalizingly in the air.  _Something that may require my services? So he's run into something that he feels like he needs a detective for?_  Kid was definitely no slouch in the investigative department himself based what Shinichi had both heard and had directly experienced chasing the kaitou, so he now found himself rather intrigued.  **I see. Well, what exactly's going on?**

 **Can you please come down so we can speak rather than text? I'm in the very back left booth of the cafe you live above- you'll find the alley employee entrance is slightly open.**  This was followed by a lock emoji, then  **You may want to tell the staff to look at replacing that door lock very soon, by the way. Half the tumblers were broken.**

 _OK, and I shouldn't just call the police and tell them you're at Café Poirot right now because...?_ Shinichi knew already, however, that Kid had drawn him in- and irritatingly enough for Shinichi he also knew that  _Kid_ knew he'd gotten him more than curious enough to at least listen to the reason that the other boy had dragged Shinichi out of bed at this hour for some sort of consultation. Sighing, the shrunken meitantei got out of bed and quickly, though quietly as he could changed out of his pajamas, armed himself with his wristwatch and soccer ball belt and put on his specially designed sneakers before sneakily exiting the apartment upstairs and heading downstairs.  _Alright, Kid, I'll at least hear you out, but no promises that I won't try and arrest you after our little chat._ Not that Shinichi expected to be able to catch him, certain that the kaitou already had multiple exit plans in place before he'd even sent his initial text.

He padded his way down the steps to the outside and went down the final flight to street level, entering the kitchen of the cafe through the back and scanning the dining area.  _He said one of the back booths...and is that coffee I smell?_ Shinichi  followed his nose and found a middle-aged street policeman sitting at one of the booths, a fresh pot of coffee, creamer and sugar all neatly laid out along with two of the cafe's to-go cups, one cup on either side of the table. Shinichi raised an eyebrow, mentally steeling himself for whatever was going to come, and offered a "Hello, Kid" to the policeman, the policeman breaking into one of Kid's signature grins after the greeting.

"Why hello there, tantei-kun. I thought some coffee might be in order since I had to drag you out of bed like this. I _do_ appreciate you coming." He tapped a spot on the table. "Watch off and right here before we continue, if you please. I'll let you keep your rather annoying belt." Kid then laid his card-shooting gun down on the table in the same spot. "I'm also surrendering my gun during this chat in the interest of fairness. You don't go for your watch, I don't go for my gun, simple enough hmm?"

Shinichi narrowed his eyes, but decided to proceed with removing his watch and placing it on top of Kid's gun. He then slid into the booth across from Kid. "Agreed, for now." He then warily eyed the half-full pot of coffee and the cup in front of him, which earned him a put-upon sigh and head shake from Kid.

"Tantei-kun, _why_ would I drag you out of bed just to knock you out again, particularly when I'm reaching out to you for assistance? _Please._ I can assure you that the coffee, creamer, sugar and cup are all directly from this establishment and completely untampered with, but feel free to go get your own if you want it." He then waved a gloved hand dismissively and poured himself a cup, adding what Shinichi noted was quite a generous portion of sugar before finishing it off with some cream. "Don't worry, I'll pay for it all before I leave." 

Deciding that, well, what Kid said made quite a bit of sense, Shinichi poured black coffee into his own paper cup and took a sip of it. _Now let's find out what exactly_ is _going on._ "Right. So, you've woken me up in the middle of the night for a clandestine meeting and say you need my help. So what exactly's going on that you felt the need to come to me?"

Kid softly drummed his fingers on his cup, thinking of how to phrase his reply before nodding, the motion ceasing. "Mmm, well, I believe I should put it this way. I'm fairly certain that some current goings-on I've stumbled onto  _will_ turn into a case that either you or tantei-san will need to work, unless we can figure things out and stop it beforehand."

Shinichi felt his mind start to race. "OK. Was it something you saw or overheard? And what exactly happened that makes you think something bad is going to happen? At least I'm assuming that's what you mean by a case that someone will need to work."

Kid shook his head. "Don't fret, we'll get there, but I'll provide some background first to help set the stage. You've seen the new diamond advertised to be coming on loan to the art museum exhibition uptown, yes? The _rather_ large yellow diamond that's due to arrive in two weeks and be added to the exhibition two days after that?" The thief quirked a brow.

"Yeah. The Queen's River, right? The one with a big streak of red through the middle of it?" Shinichi smirked knowingly. "Let me guess, it has the potential to be the target of your next heist and you were scoping out the building, the security, or likely both."

"Of course, not that that's hard to figure out. I decided to do some preliminary perusing of their general security protocols and the building itself, as I do with all my potential targets to help narrow the field down. Frankly, it's easier most of the time to check things like the building itself out _before_ the valuable objects are moved in and security gets more paranoid." Kid leaned back a bit and took another sip of coffee, the face he was currently wearing frowning for a moment. "Based on a few things I discovered in the course of my little visits to scout things out I'm about ninety-eight percent certain at this point that someone is planning a murder or a kidnapping to take place in that museum somewhere, utilizing an abandoned building near it and some kind of trick with rigging. But there's not enough hard evidence for me to feel confident that it will be taken seriously if I drop our fine law enforcers a little note about it, and after my visit a bit ago I  _do_ believe whoever is planning this thing is close to doing it. Close enough, in fact, that I felt rather compelled to reach out to you about it."

Shinichi blinked, his cup paused mid-coffee sip for a moment before he finished. "Interesting." His body language and tone of voice showed that he meant it, his attention now fully focused. At first Shinichi been wondering if this was some kind of distraction or trap, but as soon as Kid had explained things Shinichi found himself believing the story. _He's gone to an awful lot of trouble to talk to me after all, and in person no less. I've also seen enough to know that he really_ means _his No One Gets Hurt motto, so I'm betting that's why he's decided to try and intervene._ "What makes you think that, exactly? I have to admit that you've gotten me pretty curious now."

"Well, there's a reason I grabbed the to-go cups and woke you up. It's probably easier to just show you everything, and the place is only about twenty minutes away. That, in point of fact, is the favor I'm calling in, tantei-kun- come with me and look at what I've found and see if you come to the same conclusions that I have. So as to not bias you I'm not going to say anything beyond what I already have, that I'm fairly certain there will be some sort of trick with wiring or rigging involved as part of whatever this plan is. After the visit, if you think I'm correct and feel it's worth reporting to the police, you're absolutely free to. I'd rather keep my name out of it entirely, for reasons I would _hope_ are rather obvious." Kid refilled his cup and offered Shinichi the last of the pot of coffee before pulling out a small pouch and counting out some yen. "Right, two coffees, one plain, one with cream and sugar..." He left a careful pile of coins on the table before getting up out of his seat.

Shinichi was half-tempted to grab one of the coins and replace it to see if he could get fingerprints off of it, but suspected that the effort would yield no results. Kid _was_ wearing gloves, after all, and the meitantei hadn't missed the minute motions of the thief firmly rubbing each of the coins in circular motions between his thumb and index finger before he placed them on the table.  _Well, I'm in this deep already, and luckily there's no school tomorrow so I can sleep in._ "Alright, I'll go with you, on the condition that I can take my watch. And my cellphone."

"Fine, fine. I'll be rearming myself as well as we _are_  potentially going into the unknown and also into the dark, so it wouldn't be very fair or sporting of me to force you to leave _your_ tools behind, would it?" Kid gestured for Shinichi to pick his watch up before picking his gun back up. "I hope I can trust at this point that you won't be surprising me with any of your usual little tricks? I'll only be using one trick, kaitou's honor, and it's _my_ condition for you coming. Shall I rinse this coffee pot and lock this lovely little café back up so we can get going?"

 

 

 


	2. File 1: A Premonition of Murder, Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> <3 Thanks so much for the lovely comments and the subs/kudos/bookmarks so far! Hope everyone continues to enjoy!

Twenty minutes later, a very well blindfolded Shinichi felt a light breeze on the side of his face, the door opening from his left side on whatever kind of vehicle Kid had used to take him to the museum- or rather, close by it. Shinichi had only able to tell that the vehicle was some kind of larger vehicle with a rolling side door based on the sound that the door had made while opening and closing, which meant it was likely some sort of van. The blindfold hadn't come as any kind of a surprise to the meitantei when Kid pulled it out of his policemen's vest after carefully locking the back door of the Café Poirot back up; Shinichi had fully expected the kaitou's condition of bringing him to the potential crime scene to be something along those lines, Kid very intelligently stripping him of his sight (and therefore the largest piece of his observational skills) while inside a vehicle that the thief likely used on a regular basis. _It also means that he already assumed I'd come and planned for it._ Of course, Shinichi _had_ agreed to see the place after hearing Kid's story, so the other boy had been correct.

The drive had been amiable enough, their coffee consumed while making a bit of small talk about their past run-ins with each other and the various police officers and detectives Kid and Shinichi mutually knew peppered by an occasional song on a slightly static-laden car radio. Shinichi also hadn't failed to notice that Kid's voice was coming from directly across from him, meaning that a third person was silently driving the vehicle, likely the assistant that Shinichi knew frequently worked with the magician-thief during his crimes. Shinichi was helped out of the vehicle and the blindfold was removed several seconds after the transport drove off, the motor noise vanishing into the night. As Shinichi put Edogawa Conan's glasses back on to make it seem like he actually needed them, Kid turned on and swept a flashlight in a loose arc in front of them.

"And here we are- this is an old, abandoned office building by the way, and it's about, oh, twenty-five yards or so from a back way into the museum as the crow flies. This was where I started to notice something that seemed off, though I failed to realize it until I found a few more items that we'll also be looking at once we actually enter the building." Kid turned on and offered a Shinichi a similar flashlight to his own and a pair of black children's nylon gloves before he gestured to the gravel driveway that led to a small parking lot that was attached to the abandoned building in front of them. "Let's see if you notice what I did, for starters."

Shinichi put the gloves on and glanced around with the flashlight's help before he noticed several swerving acceleration scuffs and deceleration marks where someone had driven in and out repeatedly on the parking lot's pavement. He frowned as he walked along the small driveway while sweeping his flashlight back and forth methodically, studying it and also coming to several deep tire ruts on the small gravel driveway that led to the lot itself, loose sprays of gravel and small mounds piled up around the holes. "Huh...this looks like someone is pulling in or out of here in a hurry, and not just that, pretty regularly too- that's a _lot_ of marks, and those tire ruts are awfully deep. There's almost no gravel at all left in them."

"Quite correct," came Kid's reply from a bit away. "Everything out here seems to indicate that someone is not only driving in here repeatedly, but at a high rate of speed before braking nearly sideways. This was one of the things that first got me curious- only about half of these marks, actually even less than that now that I think about it, were here the last time I was here a few nights ago scouting things out next door. So whoever this is, they're coming here with _very_ increasing frequency."

Shinichi nodded and frowned as he heard Kid's footsteps crunching towards him in the gravel from his left, not liking the way the hairs on the back of his neck were prickling already as he studied the scene some more. "Yeah...I can definitely understand what you meant now by them likely being close to doing whatever they're doing. If the amount of marks went up _that_ quickly, that's a very bad sign. It means they're likely practicing...well, whatever they're planning or doing here more and more, and also probably trying to work up the nerve to execute their plan." He knelt down, studying the marks closely. "I wonder what they're doing...maybe they're timing how long it takes them to come and go or something."

"Mmhmm, and it gets decidedly more interesting from here, tantei-kun. Follow me and let's pay a little visit inside now to continue our journey. I was eyeballing this building as a spot to rappel to or from the museum initially." Kid pointed his flashlight directly ahead of them, illuminating a battered-looking metal door into the abandoned building. "This door was already bashed in like this when I paid my first little visit to this building a couple of weeks ago, by the by, so it's been accessible for at least that long. I pondered blocking it up a bit after finding what I found a bit ago, but decided that might scare off whoever's planning this if they came back." He opened the door, pulling it outwards, and Shinichi followed him inside, the meitantei slowly using his own flashlight to look the room over. It appeared to be part of an abandoned group of offices or a former workplace, half-broken cubicle walls and other signs of decaying office equipment present in the space and covered in a thick layer of dust. The only exception was the recently swept hardwood floor, which caused Shinichi to raise an eyebrow. "So someone cleaned up the floor in here pretty recently, it looks like." 

"Indeed they did, while leaving all the other surfaces untouched, though if you look closely enough you'll realize exactly why. They tried to hide what they were doing, it appears, but not _quite_ well enough. Also, there's this." After Kid's statement there was the snapping of a light switch to Shinichi's right, the room filling with dim light as florescent bulbs in the ceiling reluctantly groaned, hissed and hummed to life. "Someone's turned the electricity in this building back on, and that's another reason on the list that I decided to get you involved. I can tell you it was definitely off when I was here a week ago because I tested the lights at the time, but back on when I visited three nights ago." Another snick of the switch plunged the room back into darkness before the lights fully turned on and gave them away.

Shinichi frowned and skirted the edges of the room, noticing traces of white powder in a few places in the middle and on the edges of the floor right up against the wall as he shined his flashlight around to search. _Drugs?_   He reached down with his gloved hand and studied the powder after placing his flashlight in his off hand, shaking his head as he examined the texture and grain and the traces it left on his gloves under the white glow of his light. _No...this isn't any kind of drug that'd be a white powder. This is..._ "Flour?" he muttered aloud. The shrunken meitantei followed the traces with his flashlight along the edge and center of the room until he eventually wound up aiming the light at a closed broom closet, the traces of flour vanishing under the door. He swung the door open to discover four twenty-kilogram bags of flour that were messily duct taped together so that there were three on the bottom forming a long tube and the fourth taped just above the the middle of the 'tube' on the top. One of the bottom bags had a tiny hole in the corner, which explained the flour traces that Shinichi had found- the bottom bag leaked when it was moved.  _OK, so there's a large amount of flour here taped together in a strange manner for some reason, and they were moving it around causing it to leak out of the hole, which is likely why they swept the floor and tried to clean it up. But why did they make this thing in the first place?_

"Ah, as very much expected of you, I see you found the flour while I slipped away to check a few things upstairs." Kid walked up alongside Shinichi, the other boy's flashlight aiming into the closet as well. "Quite interesting that it's here, isn't it? I'll _also_ tell you since they seem to have mostly destroyed it that last I was here there were multiple trails of flour leading from the door to this closet and then up the stairs to the upper floor of the building and back again. Frankly, since this isn't a bakery or anything of the sort, there's only one reason I can think of for someone moving that much flour around in a building like this over and over again, but as I told you before I brought you here, I want to let you draw your own conclusions."

A chill went down Shinichi's spine as he studied the taped up flour a bit longer and quickly comprehended what the bizarre creation was likely meant to be a stand-in for, the meitantei's brow furrowing for a moment as his mind processed what else he'd learned and had imparted to him. His brow relaxed as the new information clicked in the meitantei's head into their places within the puzzle, the pieces definitely starting to form a picture of murder as the jigsaw was being assembled. Shinichi's eyes narrowed, studying the taped up flour intently and his tone confident as he replied into the darkness in the other boy's direction. _Yeah, the more I'm seeing of this whole thing, the worse it's definitely starting to look. No wonder he reached out._ "Someone is practicing moving eighty kilograms' worth of dead weight around this building- a roughly _human-shaped_ dead weight if they were bound. And they're doing it a  _lot_."

"My conclusion as well," Kid began in his usual cool, collected tone, the other boy's flashlight bobbing up and down slightly as he nodded in agreement. "At first, I was thinking they were practicing a theft of an item from the museum, perhaps something heavy like a statue, thus why they were hauling the flour around to test things out. I also felt at the time that it rather nicely explained the strange vehicle activity we took note of outside as well- someone or multiple people trying to time pulling in, loading the valuable or valuables up and fleeing as fast as possible.  _Then_  after realizing what those flour bags were likely meant to replace I discovered what I'll show you upstairs tonight and decided I needed to call in that favor. In fact, I'd venture to say it was the tipping point that I felt forced my hand, tantei-kun." Kid gestured to their right and up the stairs with his flashlight, illuminating a set of concrete steps that led to the upper level of the building. "Everything is still there, and exactly as it was before I fetched you." 

"Alright." Shinichi nodded and started to follow Kid upstairs, following the other's soft footfalls and flashlight and wondering what was waiting up there, his detective instincts already having a Very Bad Feeling about what was coming based on what he'd seen so far. "Anything else I should see while we're en route?"

"Actually, yes." Kid swung his flashlight up towards the upper left wall. "On the way up, you'll notice several holes at the top of the wall where someone placed in what I'm assuming are some sort of screws, or more likely holders going all along the top of the left side of wall there, and rub marks where some form of wire looks like it's repeatedly nicked up the walls and made a line right about where the screws are. I'm thinking it's part of some sort of pulley system with counterweights involved that they're setting up and then disassembling as part of whatever they're up to." 

Shinichi tapped his chin in thought as he slowly ascended the steps, agreeing with the other boy's assessment as he paused a moment to study the markings closely,  dearly wishing that he was Kudo Shinichi at the moment and not Edogawa Conan so that he could get a closer look as he craned his neck and aimed his flashlight while he walked, trying to not trip as he continued his inspection while making his way towards Kid's flashlight. "Y'know, I'm really beginning to think this entire thing is all timed on their part for a reason, or there's a time crunch of some kind involved. I get the feeling based on everything that they're trying to get this routine down- to get it done as quickly as they can. It would explain all the practicing and everything else so far."

Kid waited for Shinichi at the top of the landing, studying the room ahead with his own light. "Yes, precisely. Now that you've seen it for yourself I hope you understand why I told you I think they're getting close to doing whatever this is. They're coming here numerous times, over and over again, getting the timing and routine of the act perfected. As a magician, I'd honestly like to give them credit for the dedication to their upcoming performance, but I can't condone all this practice for such a deed." The flashlight then swept towards a closed door marked as a staff meeting room, Kid's flashlight highlighting it like a beacon. "Go open that door over there and take a look inside, but be careful and don't actually step inside of it until you study it. _That_ is the room that convinced me a murder or a kidnapping is going to take place. I'm going to check that we don't have any company on the rest of this floor, but please _do_ keep your phone easily accessible so I can text you in case we need to bail, hmm?" Kid's flashlight vanished into the darkness before Shinichi wandered over to the door in question and opened it up, the shrunken meitantei's eyes widening a bit as he took in the scene in front of him.

Several flour dummies that looked like they'd been similar to the one downstairs had been utterly thrashed and destroyed all over the room, some stabbed and some actually looking torn apart with bare hands, the flour and destroyed taped bags haphazardly filling the room and scattered around in piles. Shinichi slowly searched the room, his face growing intent and thoughtful. He'd actually thought, for just a moment, that it had snowed somehow in the room before Shinichi's brain had fully kicked in and punted out the impossibility. The meitantei shook his head and blamed being awake at - he checked his phone- 4:45 AM for that one.  _Wow. I see what he means, though._ This was the messy, rage-filled handiwork of someone absolutely seething with a deep, primal kind of fury, a person that would most definitely act in the moment heedless of the consequences to come, someone completely capable of committing a brutal murder against whoever's face or body they'd mentally projected onto those dummies when they'd absolutely destroyed them.  _And that presents a really big problem._ Shinichi frowned and found Kid's texts in his phone, hoping he could still reply to the blocked number as well as receive.  _I know he didn't want to bias me, but we'll see if he's thinking what I'm thinking if I bring it up to him._

**There's two people involved with this, at a minimum. And it's almost definitely a murder after seeing this room.**

**Agreed on both points, tantei-kun. Now that you've seen the room itself, step inside and look on the table on the far right, against the window. I believe it clinches that we have at least two personalities involved, and also gives us the name of our future victim.**

Shinichi did as the kaitou directed and his flashlight found a small stack of what seemed to be photographs from various newspapers along with a set of scissors in a small area that had been spared having flour all over it, mostly articles on museum exhibitions and grand openings. Shinichi felt a jolt go down his spine as he realized that the face of a particular person had been carefully, systematically cut out of all the photographs with a delicate hand. The dummies were a bright, burning, raw rage; this new find was a cool, deliberate, calculated hatred, the product of the kind of mind that Shinichi had been looking for when noticing all of the details put into whatever this plan was. _They're also probably helping to stoke the embers of the other person's anger._ The shrunken meitantei quickly scanned the articles for a name and found it. _Semi-retired_   _Egyptologist Iwata Yasuhide-hakase. Bingo. Better hope we figure this out for you in a hurry, Iwata-hakase, because at least two people really want you dead._ He frowned as he stared at the headless bodies in the papers before returning to scanning them for information.  _He's due to be here for a lecture in two days, but he's already arrived from Sapporo on a train yesterday...shit!_ Almost as if Kid had heard his thoughts, a new text announced its arrival.

**And by now I assume you've read the papers over and realize we're on just a bit of a timeline.**


	3. File 1: A Premonition of Murder, Part 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope everyone continues to enjoy! <3 Thanks so much for all the lovely comments, kudos, subs and bookmarks! A quick heads up that at the start of this, Kaito's definitely done some digging into the 'Kid Killer', but he doesn't know he's really Kudo Shinichi (yet!) I've only ever read the manga so I can't be accurate with anything from the movies, but I do know some treat the movies as canon too and Kaito apparently finds out who Conan really is in one of the movies. Just wanted to clear that up in advance and hope it won't affect everyone's enjoyment too much!

"We don't have any company for the time being." Kid made the announcement after he opened the door and carefully slid into the room, his footsteps going silent by Shinichi's left side while the shrunken meitantei was taking pictures of the meticulously defaced newspaper articles, his phone's flash lighting the room in brief bursts. "This little wonderland of flour was here last time I visited and I'm certain you've deduced why it concerns me, but those newspapers are a brand new addition that I saw for the first time myself when I slipped up here earlier to check on things."

Shinichi frowned and nodded in the darkness before grabbing for his flashlight and turning it back on, satisfied that he'd documented the newspapers as well as he could before he turned the flashlight's beam towards the table and rearranged the articles exactly how they had been when he'd first found them, not wanting to potentially scare the would-be murderers off. "I think we've definitely got a combination of brains and brawn going on here. The brains has been keeping themselves busy planning everything out, and _also_ probably deliberately keeping their brawn upset enough to kill until the right time presents itself. _Now_ we just have to figure out what the good professor's done to get multiple people wanting to kill him badly enough to go to all this trouble."

" _And_ we get to do it within forty-eight hours, may I add," replied Kid drolly as the two exited the flour-covered room and headed back downstairs. "I believe I've figured out at least part of their device, however, and where they plan to strike in the museum. You can see some scratches remarkably similar to the ones I showed you earlier right under that large bay window that the museum has." Kid gestured out the window towards the museum down the road, pointing towards a large, well-lit window about twenty yards to the east. "I'd take you and show you, but the guards are due to patrol that side of the museum at any moment and I think we'd both prefer not to risk being seen."

"Aha. And the counterweights that lead right to the museum..." Shinichi muttered to himself, his mind churning before he flipped through his phone and found what he was looking for and jabbed at the screen with his gloved hand. "There it is. One of the articles mentions that Iwata-hakase's due to give a dedication speech for a new Egyptian exhibit that just got installed at the museum while he's here visiting on Tuesday- in fact, it sounds like one of the main reasons for his trip down. So that's when our future murderer, or rather murderers, are intending to strike."

Kid's flashlight pointed towards the battered front door they'd entered from. "Indeed, and we can _also_ presume they either intend to kill him in the museum and then move his body here using the pulley system we've found evidence for, or kidnap him and transport him here using the system to commit the murder before taking his body in a vehicle to somewhere else. Which _would_ very nicely explain all the practicing with the fast driving in and out of the lot." The face Kid was currently wearing quirked a brow as they stepped back outside into the night. "I suppose a good spot to start would be people he's worked with in the past that may feel wronged by him, but I _do_  believe we'll both function better with some sleep before we continue our work, seeing as how it's going on five in the morning now _and_ our murder victim will be safe until he's over there at the museum based on what we've found. Our ride back is already on the way."

Almost apologetically, Kid pulled out the blindfold again before Shinichi removed his fake glasses. Kid continued as he got to work reapplying the blindfold. "I've asked my very able assistant to work a bit of his own magic- you'll find that you'll be able to text to my number anytime that you need now, and also call though for obvious reasons I'd prefer text. Plus, it will generally be much easier and quicker for me to reply to texts. Your number's been added to our little system so that you won't have to bounce around the network of false phone numbers my assistant and I have set up, and I won't show up as a blocked number anymore. I felt it would make things just a _touch_ easier, hmm?"

* * *

After a few hours of much needed sleep once he'd been escorted back home by Kid and his accomplice, Shinichi so tired that he'd crashed into slumber almost immediately after his head had hit his pillow, not even bothering to change back into his pajamas because he hadn't wanted to risk waking Kogoro up and was also too sleepy at the time to care, the shrunken meitantei rubbed his eyes and sat up quickly with a yawn, ready to get to work. He reached over for Conan's charging cellphone and checked the time, happy that it was still before ten and also curious if Kid had found anything- if the other boy was up yet, of course. Shinichi was also wondering what Kid's number was, though he was certain trying to track down the owner of said number would lead to a fake identity. Kid wouldn't make a rookie mistake like that. Shinichi unlocked the phone and scrolled quickly through the contacts, pausing and letting out a single quiet, barked laugh as he found an unfamiliar phone number under the English-input name of 'Arsène Lupin'.

Of course. 

Shinichi rapidly tapped out a text as he headed downstairs. **OK, I'm up. I'm gonna have a trusted friend drag me to the library after I eat so I can do some digging into Iwata-hakase, what's the plan on your end?**

Kid's reply was fairly quick- so he _was_ already awake. **Good. While you do that I do believe I'm going to go back and do some more nosing around the museum itself, try to get my hands on a schedule or something that may give us an idea of what's going on the night of his speech and why they may have chosen that particular window for their pulley system. My first guess is simply that it's a convenient size because it's large enough that it would make the job easy, but one never knows.**

"Good morning, sleepyhead!" Ran cheerfully greeted Shinichi as he sat down for what looked like natto, sliced boiled eggs and rice for breakfast. "Oh goodness, did you sleep in those clothes? They're all wrinkled! We'll have to get you changed into something else after you eat, OK?"

"Yes I did, Ran-neechan. I'm sorry!" Shinichi then managed a reply to Kid before his growling stomach (and therefore breakfast) commanded his full attention for a while. **Alright. I'll text you if we turn anything up. I'm also wondering if we should go to the police quite yet. It may spook them if they see police poking around that building because I'm almost certain that they're probably semi-regularly keeping an eye on the place, and they might decide to go with another plan.** "Hey Ran-neechan, would it be OK if I go over to Agasa-hakase's for a while? I need to write about clouds and I was thinking he could take me to the library."

"Oh, sure Conan-kun. You'll probably like that more than going food shopping with me anyhow, right?" Ran laughed as she polished off her breakfast and started cleaning up before Shinichi finished his breakfast and helped out with the dishes.

After getting both food in his stomach and a call placed to Agasa-hakase to come pick him up for the library trip, Shinichi changed into some fresh clothing and then checked his texts to see if Kid had replied, nodding in agreement as soon as he read it.  **Agreed. Much easier all around to keep the rats in place instead of lifting up the floorboards and risking them scattering. Going dark for the next few hours unless I find something interesting, but feel free to keep me apprised.**

While he sat in his and Kogoro's shared room and waited for Agasa-hakase to arrive, Shinichi glanced through the photos he'd taken of the articles to try and glean any more information that he could as he also pondered the rather strange current reality that he was actively working with  _Kaitou Kid_ to try and thwart a murder. Then again, Shinichi decided it _had_ actually been rather liberating in a way so far. From the start of things Kid had treated him as a complete equal, up to and including taking the risk of contacting him in the first place,  _and_ Shinichi had felt no need to slip into Edogawa Conan's persona around the master magician-thief since, well, if he was honest Shinichi's Conan-shaped mask had been paper thin around the kaitou from the start of things.

He was certain Kid very much suspected by this point that the 'Kid Killer' Edogawa Conan was not who or what he seemed, and the clear proof of that was Kid waking 'Conan' up in the middle of the night to drag him into an investigation. There was no doubt that the other boy was incredibly sharp and observant, probably something that was absolutely necessary for his larcenous activities, and it _had_ been incredibly pleasant to work with someone that was definitely on Shinichi's level intellectually as well, their keen minds focused and intently racing right alongside each other on the path to the truth. Usually Shinichi only got that sense when working a case alongside his best friend Hattori Heiji, even if the hot-blooded Osakan  _did_ have some.. _unique_ methods that he employed at times, so the feeling had been both surprising and welcome. 

His thoughts were interrupted by Ran calling to him from the living room. "Conan-kun! Agasa-hakase's here for you!"

"Thanks Ran-neechan!" Shinichi quickly gathered his phone and headed out.

Agasa gave him a suspicious look and as soon as they got downstairs and into the car, the question that Shinichi knew was coming was asked by Shiho, who was sitting in the backseat with a carefully neutral expression, a single blonde brow slowly arching skyward as Agasa started the car and pulled away. "Alright Kudo-kun, spill it. We don't _have_ a homework assignment involving writing about clouds. Therefore, there's another reason that you want to go to the library."

"Yeah, there is. Although I won't blame you both if you think I'm insane after I tell you." Shinichi glanced between them, using the rear-view mirror to look at Ai as best he could. "I had Kaitou Kid wake me up really early this morning and drag me out to what he was pretty sure was going to be a site of a future murder, kidnapping or maybe both. And based on what he showed me and what was left there, he's right." Shinichi pulled his phone out of his pocket and flipped back to the photos that he'd taken, trying to preempt any immediate questions. "There's at least two people involved and they're planning to kill a professor who's currently visiting from Sapporo, Iwata-hakase. He's scheduled to give a dedication speech at a museum in two days, and I want to try and find any newspapers or anything about people he's worked with, especially if there was something involved that would anger someone."

"Ah, interesting. I suppose Kid  _does_ have that No One Gets Hurt philosophy of his, doesn't he? Admirable of him, if probably unrealistic." Shiho shrugged. "How did he manage to contact you, though?"

Shinichi rubbed a hand behind his head and made a face before letting out an annoyed sigh. "He apparently helped himself to my, or rather Conan's, phone number after the whole deal went down on the Bell Tree Express. I gave him my phone at the time and asked him to return it later after he agreed to help out."

Shiho smirked a bit. "I suppose that at least you had the presence of mind to hand him Edogawa Conan's phone. Back to the current business at hand, however. I presume that we'll be researching into this Iwata-hakase, particularly any business associates, in an effort to discern who may want him dead and then attempt to stop them?"

"Yep, that's the general idea. Kid is trying to track down stuff on his end about the speech that Iwata-hakase is due to give at the museum, since we're pretty sure that that's when his will-be murderers are going to execute their plan. Let me go over everything quickly." Shinichi finished filling the pair in on what he and Kid had found at the abandoned building as they finished rolling up to the library and parking.

Agasa turned to Shinichi. "Alright. To quickly sum things up we're looking for something involving two people, though we can't fully discount anything and should just be looking for anything untoward in general. One person sounds like they're a real hothead and the other sounds like a real cool customer, and that one is likely the brains behind everything."

Shinichi nodded and grinned broadly. "Exactly. Now let's get to it!" Shinichi undid his seat belt and hopped out of the car, the shrunken meitantei's blood racing as he half-ran towards the library.

* * *

Kaito slowly made his way through the large Nakatori Museum, affecting a light limp and currently to all appearances a middle-aged, balding, brown-eyed member of the building's janitorial staff with a large mole on his right cheek. He slowly rolled a large pushcart filled with various cleaning equipment and supplies along as he carefully scanned the museum.  _OK, come_ on _. Flyers, announcements, something, anything! Museums usually make a big fuss about new exhibits that are opening up, so why can't I find anything at all about this one?_ The latex he'd applied to his face stretched a bit as he permitted himself a small frown before snapping Poker Face back into place.  _Something's definitely screwy here._ _It was really risky to drag him into it, but I'm glad that tantei-kun wound up deciding to help out._ Kaito knew that there was definitely something strange about the seven-year-old, and the research that he'd done on Edogawa Conan had led him to some odd, interesting places- like the boy's expertly faked birth certificate, _that_  discovery had certainly raised an eyebrow- but _he_ of all people felt that everyone had a right to their secrets, so it was something Kaito more picked at now and again when the mood struck him between planning his heists than actively pursued.

This morning had only served to intrigue him further. Kaito had carefully observed and cataloged Conan's reactions and processes while they looked the abandoned building over, and the results had been quite interesting. Any of the usual little-kid affectations you'd expect had vanished altogether as they discussed things and continued their joint investigation, the boy's razor-sharp mind easily keeping up with Kaito's own as Kaito had shown him around the site. _That_ was quite a feat to accomplish, if Kaito said so himself- and he did, especially when Kaito was in full-on 'Kid mode', all of his senses feeling heightened and everything in his mind processing more rapidly while he played the role of Kaitou Kid.

He now definitely understood how the 'Kid Killer' was so adept at stopping his plans, and Kaito was curious if maybe at some point in the future he'd solve the enigma of Edogawa Conan- or perhaps even have Conan share the solution with him himself, the odd child that had felt nothing _at all_ like a child while working alongside him (or when having his plans thwarted by him.)  _But back to business,_ Kaito firmly reminded himself, continuing his patrol.  _Wow, still nothing at all about this exhibit or an opening night schedule. What the heck? It's like they're not advertising that this new exhibit is coming at all._ Even the entrance to the future exhibit was just simply labeled 'Do Not Enter' and led down a very darkened hallway when usually there would be elaborate advertising set up for the new exhibit, maybe even a sneak peek of an item or two.

Deciding to continue his investigation, Kaito lifted one of the wooden barriers like he owned the place and casually strolled down the hall into the darkened exhibit, quickly realizing exactly why everything was so dark- and why there was nothing mentioning the new showcase. A vandal, or vandals, had gone through every inch of the exhibit and covered it in what looked like a mix of black paint and newspapers, the entire exhibit now a sea of lines of dried black paint and littered newspapers. Kaito permitted himself a sigh before he scrolled down his contacts until he found 'Sherlock Holmes' and quickly tapped out a text- well, as quickly as he could manage one with the falsely arthritic fingers he was currently wearing. **Found something quite intriguing indeed. Sending some photos for your perusal.** Kaito then quickly snapped several photos of the vandalism and sent them to Conan.  **I got curious why I couldn't find anything in the entire museum advertising this exhibit when it was due to open up very soon based on the speech happening Tuesday. Question most definitely answered.**

Conan's reply was almost immediate.  **Whoa. Yeah, they're probably having to delay until they get that mess cleaned up. And I'd bet that probably happened REALLY recently, or they'd have told Iwata-hakase to not bother travelling down.**

Kaito nodded to himself. _Correct, of course._ **More than likely. I'll keep poking around and see if I can find anything that might point to a motive for this.**


	4. File 1: A Premonition of Murder, Part 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the first case rolls on! Thanks SO much to everyone for all the comments, bookmarks, subs and kudos! Already have the next two cases outlined in my head ;)

A bit later, Shinichi was frantically looking around for the 'janitor' that he'd been told to keep an eye out for in the museum, Shiho beside him and wearing a vaguely annoyed expression as they wound their way through the buzzing, milling crowd examining the various rooms and exhibits- well, the non-vandalized ones, at any rate. Agasa had agreed to drop them off and head back to the library to do more research on his end before they met up again.

"I _still_ don't understand why you felt that it was necessary for me to come along," Shiho huffed under her breath as she looked around, also attempting to try and locate the disguised Kaitou Kid.  _I just hope that Kid will have a bit more...self-preservation, shall we say, than Kudo-kun._  Then again, it  _was_  Kaitou Kid being discussed, magician-slash-thief-slash-daredevil extraordinaire, so Shiho was already resigned to caution going completely out the window more than a few times in the future if this bizarre partnership continued. Shinichi's brashness _had_ saved more than a few lives including her own, yes, but Shiho tended to get heart palpitations when she thought about Shinichi _yet again_ winding up in the hospital from one of his exploits at some point down the road and someone on the staff noticing that 'Edogawa Conan' 's history and records were a bit _too_ neatly put together. She was certain that the Kudos had paid a _very_ pretty penny to procure the documents magicking Edogawa Conan into existence from the best of the best with utter secrecy, but _that_ did nothing to quell her worry when Shinichi seemed bound and determined at times to have those documents used and examined as much as possible. _Oh, and we can_ also _add actively working with an internationally wanted criminal to the mix now as well._ Granted, International Criminal 1412  _was_ no common lawbreaker, but Shiho still worried.

"It'll be easier to find him with two pairs of eyes- watch for a janitor with a cart and a mole. Plus, maybe the three of us can put our heads together and figure this out." Shinichi then spotted the 'janitor' they were looking for sitting on a bench with a cleaning cart beside him, the disguised Kid loosely waving at Shinichi. Janitor-Kid raised a brow as not one, but two kids arrived in front of him, glancing between them before settling on Shinichi as if waiting for an elaboration or explanation. "This is Haibara, a classmate of mine. She's here to help. Now let's get back into that exhibit," offered Shinichi flatly before he glanced around and made sure they weren't being observed, then ducking into one of the bags on the cart, which Kid had emptied out beforehand for transport purposes.

Shiho shook her head in a mix of amusement and 'what on Earth have I gotten myself into with Kudo-kun THIS time' before she hopped into the other empty bag on the cart.  _I_ am _rather curious about this whole thing, I must admit._ She listened to janitor-Kid merrily whistling over the sounds of the cart's softly rumbling wheels as he steered them towards the suddenly shuttered exhibit, a small, amused smile unexpectedly arriving and quickly suppressed on the shrunken scientist's face. "You _do_ know that you're going to be paying to clean my clothes after this, right Edogawa-kun?" she deadpanned in what should have been Shinichi's direction through the canvas fabric, a clearly put-upon sigh issuing from the bag next to her Shinichi's only reply.

After a few minutes, the whistling and rolling both ceased as Kid tapped the top of both bags firmly. "We're in. We have about, oh, twenty minutes or so since I've _ever_ so slightly tampered with the cameras in here and they _also_ don't seem to check the inactive wings as much based on what I've been observing."

Shinichi popped out of his hiding place in the bag and intently looked around as Shiho emerged as well, the smell of newspaper and damp paint still somewhat lingering in the large, defaced room as every detail was soaked in by the shrunken detective. "I wonder if a third person may know about the murder plot, or that _something_  nasty is being planned against Iwata-hakase at least, and they were trying to stop it the only way they _could_ given time constraints- by vandalizing the exhibit to try and get its opening delayed, if not stopped altogether." Shinichi clucked his tongue once while his mind raced, glance settling on one of the larger exhibits, a sarcophagus whose glass case was mostly covered up by the vandalism. "Unless maybe Iwata-hakase himself knew people were out for him and hired someone to do it while he was travelling down on the train, which is another possibility we'll need to check into. I just find it _way_ too convenient that _this_ exhibit, and _only_ this exhibit, got trashed not even a day or two before whatever was going to happen."

Kid nodded and quirked a false brow. " _This_ much coincidence is coincidence no longer, so _now_   let's see if we can find anything that may point us to our newspaper slinger and how they accomplished this. Perhaps _they_ can help shed some light on things for us once we track them down. I have gloves on, so feel free to request assistance with anything that needs lifting or moving."

After being rather exasperated that Shinichi didn't appear to even be _attempting_ to play the role of Conan (was he  _potentially incredibly dangerously_  forgetting that they were with Kaitou Kid and not Agasa-hakase?), Shiho noticed how different yet similarly the two seemed to think as they began inspecting the area. Both wore almost identical expressions of perceptive, keen concentration, though Kid was clearly more drawn to the ceiling and its security cameras along with potential methods of ingress and egress as he completed a circuit of the wing than Shinichi, who was more closely studying the papers themselves and looking around the center of the room and the items themselves for clues while not touching anything. _I'm going to be dealing with_ another  _detective, of sorts, going forward aren't I?_ Shiho groaned inwardly as she conducted her own search, feeling a headache at the thought gently announcing itself at the edges of her temples while _also_ trying to find a paper that wasn't mostly slathered in black that might lead them to where the papers had come from and in turn, their mystery vandal. 

"Right here" Kid muttered loudly, doing a half-twirl in front of one of the windows while he planted himself, staring up between two spots on the vaulted ceiling. "This window would be the only way in and out that you'd _almost_ never get caught on the cameras unless you got unlucky and entered or exited _just_ as the cameras' arcs cross each other- every other way in has too much exposure to be worth risking. I checked the camera movements before I made things a little easier for us."

Shinichi made his way over, looking out the window, Shiho noticing one of his signature smirks forming. "And filing _another_   thing into the Too Many Coincidences folder, check out where this window is almost directly pointing."

" _Well_  now." Kid grinned one of his rakish grins that looked very strange on the face he was currently wearing, taking in another side of the abandoned building he and Conan had been poking around in just that morning. "Care to place a wager that we'll find marks from their little pulley system below _this_ window too?"

"Only if I get to bet we will," said Shinichi, voice and eyes both filled with the eagerness of a bloodhound newly set on the hunt.

Shiho joined the other two at the window, letting out a mild 'hmm' before she resumed her work and finally found what she was after, pointing to the ground and gesturing for the pair to join her. "Here's a paper that's not covered in paint. Maybe it can help?"

Kid carefully extracted the paper from the pile after walking to where Shiho was pointing, recognition flashing in his eyes before he smirked in triumph. "We've had _quite_ a stroke of luck here, tantei-kun. I need to place a phone call, though I'm afraid I can't let you or Haibara-chan hear it. My apologies."

Shiho could feel her teeth reflexively grate at being called 'Haibara-chan,' and Shinichi looked rather entertained at the darkened expression that passed over her face as Kid slipped away to place a phone call, Shiho staring daggers into Kid's back to the point she saw him visibly shiver as he walked away to the other end of the wing before he flipped his phone open. 

"Hey now. He doesn't know, remember? You'll give yourself away." Shinichi couldn't stop a snicker from issuing after the words. 

"Less than you, I'd imagine," replied Shiho airily as she turned her head away from Shinichi petulantly. "Honestly, you're not even _trying_ to be Conan, are you?" she continued _very_ quietly after looking around to make sure they wouldn't be overheard, arms crossed in annoyance as she turned to face Shinichi.

Shinichi shrugged and replied equally softly. "Well, I'm actually not sure I've _been_ Conan around Kid much to start with. I mean, the 'Kid Killer' _is_ Edogawa Conan and I try and put on the front to an extent, but I'm _pretty_ sure he strongly suspects I'm more than I appear to be by now. In fact, I've thwarted enough of Kid's heists at this point that I think I'd be insulted if he _didn't_ suspect something." _Plus the times we've kinda sorta worked together in the past,_   Shinichi added though didn't say aloud. (Did kind of sort of, OK, not kind of sort of, _forcing_ Kid to help out on the Bell Tree Express count as working together too? Maybe?) 

"Well I'm just going to leave it at this. Don't come running to _me_ if this somehow winds up biting you squarely in the butt even if Agasa-hakase decides to help you, alright?" Shiho finished mildly, both knowing she didn't _really_ mean it just as Kid wrapped up his call at the far end of the wing and came strolling back over. 

"Good news! My call was as fruitful as I'd hoped. I now have an appointment at a printing press to attend in a few hours, but I'm afraid they don't allow children on the premises for safety reasons." Janitor-Kid waved the paper he'd extracted in his leather-gloved hand. "This is a flyer advertisement for a bunch of businesses, and it so happens I recognized one of them. I placed a call to them and asked where they'd gotten these printed, and got the name of a print shop. It seems to me that a print shop would be a natural place to have this volume of paper, and flyers in particular, laying around." Kid was almost beaming before his usual neutral expression slipped back onto his face. "You both have a ride, correct? I need to go change into an owner of a soba noodle stand before my little rendezvous, though I can stay with you until your carriage shows up."

Shinichi really wanted to be nosy and ask which business, but he restrained himself (mostly because had a feeling Kid wouldn't tell him if he _did_ ask, since it could potentially be used to track him down.) "That _is_ good news! Haibara and I can go back to the library and do some more digging around while you take care of that." 

"Right. Now let's get ourselves out of this wing before the cameras work themselves loose." Kid gestured to the cart, Shiho and Shinichi hopping back in before the trio exited the shut-down exhibit. 

* * *

"Alright, here we are." Jii pulled up to the warehouse housing Panda Printing, Kaito at his side with his disguise changed to now be an old, beat up and stained white outfit and apron of the sort that a ramen stand owner would wear. "What's our story again?"

"I mentioned wanting to advertise and you wanted to bring me to the place that helped you out," replied Kaito in an older, cracked male voice. Kaito had been absolutely overjoyed when he'd seen a coupon for half off a game of billiards or pool at the Blue Parrot Billiards Club in the list of coupons on the paper at the museum, though of course he couldn't have shown it as Kid. "I'm thinking our museum vandal may work here and that those flyers were a botched run or something they were going to get rid of. How and why else would they have had access to so many of them?" he continued in his normal voice before they both hopped out of the van and entered a side door, a small office area greeting them that had a desk and a few chairs.

"Ah! Konsuke-sama, it's wonderful to see you again! This must be Watanuki-sama you've brought with you!" A trim, bespectacled woman in about her mid-twenties dressed in a well-worn, stained light blue coverall rounded the corner from a back room and brushed short black hair out of her face before bowing to both of them, the smooth, rumbling noise of humming printing machinery rising and then falling as the door opened and then shut behind her. "I'm Furusawa Naora. I understand you're looking to possibly run an advertisement with us?"

"Quite so, Furusawa-san." Kaito grinned and held up the poster that he'd brought with him. "This looks absolutely wonderful, and Konsuke-san couldn't recommend your company highly enough! In fact, I'd absolutely love a few copies of your various layouts for samples!"

"Of course! We have a few pre-made designs, and our graphic designer Haruno-san is a genius if you'd like something more custom! She's just left to grab a quick lunch, but I know where she keeps the samples at." Naora popped open a filing cabinet and started rooting around. "In Konsuke-sama's case, he and a few other businesses close to him all pitched in together for a custom layout for coupons, but we can do anything you'd need- flyers, coupons, menus, you name it!" Naora let out a triumphant cry as she unearthed what looked to be a thick file folder and pulled it free from the cabinet. Playing along with the ruse, Kaito started glancing through the designs before he noticed something that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

Every cut of paper was an absolutely perfect, meticulous line, exactly like their mystery beheader's removals of Iwata-hakase's heads from the photographs. 

To be sure he was right, Kaito continued inspecting 'Haruno-san''s work, absolutely sure by the glance of his twentieth page that he'd found the cool-headed member of their murder-planning duo. "What amazing work! Did Haruno-san go to college to get such talent?"

Naora shook her head, offering a conspiratorial wink before she gestured at the artwork "Actually, she's self-taught! Isn't she _amazing_? Could you even _believe_ that she actually went to college for archaeology instead of art or design?"

Kaito felt his eyes reflexively narrow at this piece of news, quickly dropping his head and pretending to be studying the artwork instead of smirking in triumph. _Bingo._ _There's our tie to Iwata-hakase, I'll bet anything on it. Professors lecture or guest lecture at universities all the time._ "You could have fooled me!"

"Yeah, although she really doesn't talk much about it," muttered Naora sadly, her ebullience suddenly tempered slightly by melancholy. "I think something might have happened that caused her to drop out of the program, but I don't like to pester her about it too much. She always looks so _sad_ when she talks about it."

Promising to come back after looking the samples over, Kaito and Jii finally extracted themselves from Panda Printing after some more small talk and looking at designs with Naora. "Did you get what you needed, young master?"

"And then some," replied Kaito with a broad grin as he quickly texted 'Sherlock.' 

**Pretty certain I've just found our more level-headed future murderer. Are you still at the library?**

Conan's response was almost instant. **Yeah. Need something looked up? What'd you find?**

**Look in Iwata-hakase's classes or news concerning him for a woman with the family name Haruno. I unfortunately don't have a first name, couldn't risk prying too much more without potentially blowing my cover and tipping her off. She's a graphic designer at the printer's that I just had my little visit with. I didn't speak with her directly, but it sounds like she used to be an archaeology student that dropped out because something nasty happened. Past involvement in studying archaeology with Iwata-hakase being an Egyptologist? I immediately saw a potential link.**

A few minutes later as they were driving back towards Kaito's house, he got a text from Conan that was two words. 

 **Oh, MAN.** This was shortly followed by **We need to call or meet up ASAP. You're right. She's definitely one of them.**

 **Are you in a good spot for a call right now?** Conan had definitely thoroughly roused Kaito's curiosity.

**I can be. Give me a few. WAY too much to try and text.**


End file.
